MACKINAW CITY - The Mackinac Bridge, which temporarily closed this morning, Friday, because of ice falling from cables, reopened at 10 a.m., said bridge services manager Dean Steiner. The morning's rain, which turned to snow, also caused slick roads and lead to a number of traffic incidents, which kept emergency officials busy throughout the morning.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Four hundred runners recently received some good news: They've been randomly selected to run across the Mackinac Bridge on Monday. The annual Labor Day crossing draws tens of thousands of walkers. But a select 400 who entered an online lottery have been tapped to jog across the span that connects Michigan's Upper and Lower peninsulas. Michigan's governor has led the walk since 1958, a precedent set by G. Mennen "Soapy" Williams shortly after the bridge opened.

NORTHERN MICHIGAN — The Mackinac Bridge Authority (MBA) reminds motorists that only the commuter toll rate will increase effective Saturday, Jan. 1. The new commuter rate will be $1.90 per crossing, provided commuter card holders make their return trip within 36 hours of the first one. The expiration date for commuter cards has been extended to Dec. 31, 2011. After a series of public hearings in December 2007, the MBA board opted for incremental toll rate increases to help fund a long-term maintenance and preservation program that includes a complete deck-replacement project within the next decade.

ST. IGNACE, Mich. (AP) — Registration is under way for Michigan residents who want to be among the 400 participants in the Mackinac Bridge Labor Day Run. The Governor's Council on Physical Fitness organizes the five-mile run across the span, which connects St. Ignace in the Upper Peninsula and Mackinaw City in the Lower Peninsula. The state is holding an online lottery in June. To enter, a participant must be at least 18 years old and participate in at least one running event endorsed by the council and conducted between June 1, 2010, and May 31, 2011.

MACKINAW CITY, Mich. (AP) — Traffic is up on the Mackinac Bridge — and so is revenue as a result of a rate increase. State auditors last week reported a 2.2 percent increase in the number of vehicles to more than 3.9 million. The report covers the state's fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30. Bridge toll revenue was up by more than $3 million, or 21 percent, thanks to more vehicles and a rate hike. The bridge relies on tolls for operations, repairs and maintenance.

MACKINAW CITY - The Mackinac Bridge is closed to all vehicles except passenger cars, passenger vans and empty pick-up trucks because of wind, according to the bridge conditions page on mackinacbridge.org . The bridge conditions report states that winds are blowing across the bridge surface in excess of 50 miles per hour. As a result, motorists are instructed to reduce their speed to 20 miles per hour as they approach the bridge and motorists should be prepared to stop, according to the bridge conditions report.

STRAITS OF MACKINAC - A Michigan State Police investigation remains open, following reports of a woman jumping from the Mackinac Bridge at approximately 5 p.m. on Monday. According the U.S. Coast Guard-Sector Sault Ste. Marie, a four-hour search -- including a helicopter dispatched from Traverse City as well as the Mobile Bay, a Coast Guard cutter based out of Sturgeon Bay, Wis., on icebreaking operations in the region -- was called off because of inclement weather conditions in the region with the unnamed woman not being recovered.

ST. IGNACE -- Robert J. Sweeney, executive secretary of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, recently reported that 177,376 vehicles crossed the Mackinac Bridge in February compared to 192,287 during that month in 2012. For the month, traffic was down 7.8 percent and fare revenue was down 5.7 percent compared to the previous February.

On Thursday, Aug. 12, the American Society of Civil Engineers will present the Mackinac Bridge Authority and the Michigan Department of Transportation with a plaque to officially dedicate the Mackinac Bridge as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. A dedication ceremony is being planned for 11 a.m. at Bridge View Park in St. Ignace. "This is another very special moment for the Mackinac Bridge," said bridge authority board chairman William H. Gnodtke. "A new commemorative medallion will be available at the event to help us celebrate this designation and remember the milestone.

After responding to several Freedom of Information Act requests submitted by the News-Review, the Mackinac Bridge Authority, U.S. Coast Guard and Michigan State Police have released information regarding a Jan. 16 suicide on the Mackinac Bridge. According to an incident report from Michigan State Police Post St. Ignace, around 8:30 a.m. on Jan. 16, it began receiving reports that a subject had jumped off the bridge near the south pier, on the bridge’s northbound side. The subject was later identified as 55-year-old Patricia Mary Elder of Gaylord.

ST. IGNACE -- September's traffic count on the Mackinac Bridge held steady when compared with vehicle crossings for that month in 2012. Robert J. Sweeney, executive secretary of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, recently reported that 393,178 vehicles crossed the bridge in September -- a 0.3 percent increase from the year-ago crossing tally of 393,023. Bridge fare revenues -- the authority's sole source of funding for maintaining, operating and protecting the bridge -- totaled more than $2.1 million in September, increasing 2.4 percent from that month in 2012.

ST. IGNACE -- Robert J. Sweeney, executive secretary of the Mackinac Bridge Authority, reported Monday that 556,259 vehicles crossed the Mackinac Bridge during in August, compared to 541,843 during that month in 2012. For August, traffic was up 2.7 percent compared to last year, and fare revenue increased 2.2 percent. The Mackinac Bridge Authority has scheduled a substantial amount of long-term preservation work for the bridge over the next several years. These major efforts will ensure that the bridge continues to remain structurally sound and provide a safe crossing for everyone.

MACKINAW CITY - Strong Labor Day travel predictions proved to be slightly optimistic, but not far off during the busy Northern Michigan holiday weekend for tourists. Michigan was expected to have about 1.5 million residents travel more than 50 miles during the weekend, according to auto club AAA Michigan. Many of those in-state travelers and plenty of out-of-state travelers found their way Up North. Overall Labor Day car traffic was slightly down 2 percent (or 500 cars) from last year on the Mackinac Bridge with about 23,000 cars crossing between the two peninsulas.

A tour of the Mackinac Bridge will be a featured silent auction item during the Women Can/Women Do fundraising luncheon on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at the Bay Harbor Yacht Club-Lange Center. The luncheon is a major fundraiser for the Women's Resource Center of Northern Michigan, with proceeds from the event supporting programs and services for women, children and families in Antrim, Charlevoix, Cheboygan, Emmet and Otsego counties. The silent auction portion of the event has always been supported by the local business community through the donation of items, according to women's center assistant director, Deb Smith.

Before there was the Mackinac Bridge, there was Line 5. Line 5 - Enbridge's 30-inch pipeline that transports oil across Wisconsin, through the Upper Peninsula and splits into two 20-inch pipes as it runs underneath the Straits of Mackinac. Line 5 then runs down the I-75 corridor as it cuts between Burt and Mullett lakes before heading toward Bay City, to Port Huron and then into Ontario. The pipeline is more than 60 years old and now Enbridge plans to increase the line's capacity from 490,000 barrels of oil a day through the Straits to 540,000 after a $100 million upgrade at some of the line's pump stations.

MACKINAW CITY - Ironworkers' skills play an important role in creating our country's infrastructure. The Mackinac Bridge was made by ironworkers. The Golden Gate Bridge? Ironworkers. The Empire State Building? Ironworkers, yet again. "Our job is to make the skeletons of a lot of the skyscrapers, warehouses and bridges that you see around the country," said Mike Judd, of Battle Creek Local 340. Judd, a Michigan ironworker from North Muskegon, competed for nearly 10 years and plans to return for the upcoming festival this summer.

MACKINAW CITY - Wind gusts of more than 70 miles per hour overturned a northbound semi truck on the Mackinac Bridge at about 9:05 p.m. Thursday. Orange construction barrels began blowing around the suspension bridge when winds quickly increased from 25 mph to 40 mph at about 9 p.m., just before the accident occured. “We had mobilized crews to go out and remove the barrels, as well as begin escorting procedure for wind susceptible vehicles, when about the same time we got a report a semi truck had tipped over,” said Bob Sweeney, Mackinac Bridge Authority administrator.

CLEVELAND - The Coast Guard rescued a man from the waters of the Straits of Mackinac on Wednesday morning. The name, condition and other details identifying the individual are not being released. The unidentified individual is at least the seventh person to jump from the 5-mile Mackinac Bridge across the Straits since 2006, according to Petoskey News-Review archives, and the first to survive and be rescued. The most recent fatal leap occurred on Dec. 31, 2012. At about 6 a.m. Wednesday, the communications watchstander at Coast Guard Station St. Ignace, Mich., was contacted by the Mackinac County Central Dispatch reporting that a man had been seen jumping from the lower section on the east side of the Mackinac Bridge.